Monthly Archives: September 2014

Mame-cha

by Afra

If you happen to be looking for a nice lunch spot in the Yurakucho area, consider dropping by Mame-cha located on the 8th floor of the Lumine department store building. Its located under a cinema and relatively new on this floor.

They have a variety of different choices in the set menu, allowing you to pick the food that you like and leaving out the ones you don’t.

The style of the interior was very modern Japanese. Simple with light wood accents.

You pick your main dish from the menu and while waiting for your meal to arrive, there is an appetizer buffet elegantly designed like a capsule. You can choose three dishes of appetizers and dessert, all dessert or all appetizers as long as it is 3 dishes. Everything looked so inviting, it took me awhile to decide which appetizers to pick.

They had an interesting tea selection in the buffet, from grape tea to black bean tea. I tried a sip of them all and loved the grape tea flavor.

My pick from the buffet was 2 appetizers and 1 dessert. You could choose all dessert if you want. My dessert was a green tea cake.

My choice of main course today was a simple grilled fish. Nice and healthy.

The lunch menu costs 1500 yen ++ and it is just the right size so you wont get sleepy for work in the afternoon.

Good lunch spot!

Price : $

Mame-cha
〒100-0006 Tokyo, Chiyoda, Yurakucho, 2 Chome−5−1, LUMINE Yurakucho 8F
03-6267-4775

KOGENTEY

by Afra

Located in the middle of an upper class residential area, the street leading towards it dark except for the illuminated entrance, Kogentey is a welcomed oasis in the heart of Sakurashinmachi. Two restaurants and a cafe built as warm wooden structures sit in its lovely compound. You don’t find this kind of architecture a lot in Tokyo.

The first restaurant is the “Konamon” where they serve okonomiyaki (japanese style pizza).

The second is a dessert shop “Yukinoshita” (the hut on the right in the picture below) where they serve a variety of desserts.

The third, is the “Kogentey” which is a teppanyaki restaurant where I will have dinner today.

I loved the entrance with its gorgeous lighting. You really feel like you are entering a different world in this compound.

There are only 2 private rooms where the chef can cook live in front of you. The rests are just regular tables like the picture below.

Since it’s a teppanyaki restaurant, I feel like it is always better to have the chef cook live in front of you as part of the entertainment. Below is a picture of the room I booked.

I have a certain weakness for special menus. I chose the “Natsu Tora” for my meal which means Summer Tiger. It is part of their summer menu and the only difference from their signature menu is that they had lobster on the list. No hesitation, I chose this one.

The first to arrive from the set menu was the Gazpacho, a cold tomato based soup made from raw vegetables originally from the southern Spanish region of Andalusia.

Second is the Hors d’oeuvre, Fish with summer vegetables.

Third, the chef showed us the ingredients of the Poisson, Lobster, Sea Urchin, and Scallop. All fresh.

She grilled the lobster and scallops first and used the sea urchin as a sauce she poured on top.
It was the ocean on a plate and tasted heavenly.

After the seafood, we moved on to the Viande, Oumi Beef from Shiga perfecture,

Fried garlic, asparagus, eggplant and wasabi were served as the sides.

Soumen, a kind of Japanese noodle from Akita prefecture served cold came last.

The dessert was a pannacotta with passion fruit sauce. A refreshing tropical summer dessert.

From all the dishes I loved the lobster the best. It truly was amazing.

Other than that, I would recommend this place for its unique atmosphere. An oasis in the middle of bustling Tokyo.

Price: $$$

Kogentey
4-14-1 Tsurumaki, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-0016
Phone +81 (0)3-3425-0393